Hi,

I've been offered the chance of redundancy which I want to take, but it has meant that my travel plan has gone from pipedream to iminenent reality very quickly. I need to confirm a preferred 'leave date' from work this week, and so I'm a bit short of time to validate all my ideas, so I'm hoping I can ask for your advice and validation. Apologies if any of this info already exists - I promise I have searched albeit quickly.

My plan is to travel from the UK to S Africa via the west route in just over 5 months, starting in late Dec / early Jan. I'd like to travel at a relatively easy pace that allows me to experience the cultures, find the back roads, chill on the odd nice beach etc. I've also got a friend's wedding I need to be back for in early/mid June, so I'd also like to have enough contigency in the 'plan' so I don't feel rushed. I should say that I'll be riding an XT660R and so the dirt roads are more fun than the highways for me.

So the areas I'd like some advice are;
- Is 5 and a bit months a reasonable timescale given the style of travel or do I need a bit longer? This is the most important bit because I need to 'choose' a redundancy date
- Am I going to come up against any significant barriers to this route / timing? (i.e. bad rainy seasons or impossible border crossings)

I know all this can be very subjective, but what I'm looking for is a gut feel advice, so I can comfort myself I'm not making any truly amateurish mistakes.

Finally If anyone is planning to be taking a similar journey around the same time then please let me know if you'd like some company

If it helps to judge the timeline, below is what I had in my mind. Those with a * are those I've deliberately allocated a bit more time in as I would like to spend a bit longer in these countries, either to chill, explore, safari etc.
France - 5 days
Spain - 7 days
Morroco* - 10 days
Mauritania - 5 days
Senegal* - 7 days
Gambia - 3 days
Senegal - 3 days
Guinea - 7 days
Ivory Coast - 8 days
Burkina Faso - 8 days
Benin - 5 days
Nigeria - 12 days
Cameroon* - 10 days
Congo - 7 days
DRC* - 18 days
Zambia - 7 days
Zimbabwe - 7 days
Botswana - 10 days
S Africa* - 18 days

Thanks for your time.

James

For starters you've not said why you're limiting it to 5.5 months, apart from the wedding at the end. I believe you'll want to spend more time on the road some of these timings look way off!

However, you've mentioned you could leave work earlier, you could also fly home for the wedding & leave the bike stored for a few weeks.

France - 5 days
Spain - 7 days
Morroco* - 10 days
Mauritania - 5 days
Senegal* - 7 days
Gambia - 3 days
Senegal - 3 days
Guinea - 7 days
Ivory Coast - 8 days
Burkina Faso - 8 days
Benin - 5 days
Nigeria - 12 days
Cameroon* - 10 days
Congo - 7 days
DRC* - 18 days
Zambia - 7 days
Zimbabwe - 7 days
Botswana - 10 days
S Africa* - 18 days

Your BIGGEST problem is Guinea/Cote d'Ivoire - the border is CLOSED & remains so for a while yet it seems. Liberia/Cote d'Ivoire might open soon, alternatively you do a 2 day detour through Mali

If you need assistance in West Africa, I've done it many, many times, got back again last week

Creer - Thanks I really appreciate the help and your views will hopefully stop me making any amateur mistakes. My plans has had to be developed rather quickly so it doesn't surprise me there are some misjudgements - I've found some myself in the last couple of days of further research!! All advice / corrections are very much welcomed.


Thanks for the border advice - this explains my pencil scribble for 'Liberia??' in my notes.


I've learnt that my estimate for DRC is way off. My thinking is to cross at Luozi border in the west, go to Kinshasa, get a barge to Kisangani then get back on the bike to Burundi, then quickly onward to Kigoma for the MV LIemba ferry to Mpulungu Zambia. I'm thinking this is nearer 40-45 days


Would you (or anyone else) mind pointing out where my timings are off? - I've added an updated 'plan' below


I thought it would be useful if I explained my timescale thinking a bit more - to some extent I'm not limited on how long I will spend in Africa and I don't plan to rush. What I didn't mention originally is that the broader plan would be to travel for c15-18 months, starting Africa then N America, then South America, basically following the 'good' weather until the money runs out. By the way the only reason I didn't mention this in the original post is because I've done very little thinking post the Africa leg. With this overall plan I believe it is likely that I'll need to dog leg via Europe to ship myself and the bike from S.Africa to Canada. Which is why I'm thinking about linking the wedding in June to this dog leg. I also have some flexibility over the leave date from work (between late Oct and end of Dec). So my thought was if I have an idea of the approx. time in Africa then I can manage my leave date to make my shipping dog leg match the wedding and save myself some ££ and $$ from extra flights back to the UK. Obviously the journey will dictate the timings and I'm not going to make the whole trip match a wedding, but if possible it seems to make sense to maximise the chances of saving some money.


France - 3 days
Spain - 5 days
Morocco* - 12 days (inc mauri visa and some time in the souks etc)
Mauritania - 5 days
Senegal* - 8 days (inc Guinea, Burkina Faso and Benin visas and a bit of relaxation in Dakar)
Gambia - 3 days
Senegal - 3 days
Guinea - 7 days (inc Mali visa)
Mali - 7 days (inc Nigeria visa)
Burkina Faso - 5 days
Benin - 7 days (inc DRC visa)
Nigeria - 12 days (inc Cameroon visa)
Cameroon* - 12 days (inc Congo visa and Bamenda ring)
Congo - 9 days
DRC* - 45 days (inc boat down the Congo, Burundi/ Tanzania visit and MV Liemba journey)
Zambia - 7 days
Zimbabwe - 7 days
Botswana - 10 days
S Africa* - 18 days (some wiggle room at the end and plenty of time to explore and relax)
Total - 185 days - 6 months

From my point of view, you're planning your trip how I travel ... ie. racing from place to place and not taking time out for yourself.

I made myself sleep in one town for 3 nights early last week in Burkina (somewhere I knew anyway) as I was in desperate need of rest! I was on foot, using public transport, you have more of a risk to yourself being fatigued on a bike.

There are lots of wonderful places on your route I can tell you that you should take time out to enjoy. But I do feel with the road conditions in many places and the time you are planning to cross X or Y country in, you won't have a chance to switch off and relax.

However you will work all that out on the road. I'd also advise you to keep your ear to the ground in terms of conflicts etc. I know Burundi and it's a wonderful country, friends were living there but have a temporary base in Kigali, with their updates I would not advise riding through it today!!! These kind of things are going to add time & possibly cause complications to visas etc ...

Could you not get your redundancy earlier? Leave 30 days or so early as it gets cold in the UK and head south. Late October would be a good time to start going towards the sun!

Cost will probably be cheaper for you as you'll live cheaply on the road compared to your home life!

Thanks CREER

I've managed to move the redundancy to begininng of December and will keep working on my boss to get away sooner. At least beginning of Dec gives me 6 solid months.

I'll keep an ear to the ground for news on conflicts and security.

Good to hear!

I might be going south at the same time but with 4 wheels not 2. Whatever happens I'll be back in Cote d'Ivoire from late dec/early january, let me know if you heading that way, know some interesting border crossings which would be great on a bike & you're welcome to drop by!

Great, I'll drop you a message nearer the time to see when our paths will cross. Always happy to share the fun!!